News Summary: Pigs smart as dogs? New campain

ANIMALS ARE COMRADES: animal-welfare advocates are launching a campaign called The Someone Project that aims to highlight research depicting pigs, chickens, cows and other farm animals as more intelligent and emotionally complex than commonly believed. The hope is that more people might view these animals with the same empathy that they view dogs, cats, elephants, great apes and dolphins.

FOUR LEGS GOOD: There is research suggesting that campaigns such as The Someone Project may make headway in influencing consumers. In one recent study examining doubts that people might have about eating meat, University of British Columbia psychologists concluded that the animal's level of intelligence was the foremost concern.

SOME MORE EQUAL: While The Someone Project will encompass several species of farm animals, pigs are likely to be one of the prime subjects, given the breadth of past studies of their intelligence and behavior. Some researchers say pigs' cognitive abilities are superior to 3-year-old children, as well as to dogs and cats.